Final answer:
The tallest possible height a child could reach from parents who are 5'5" and 5'3" is uncertain due to the complex nature of human height, which is influenced by many genes and environmental factors. While Mendelian genetics provide a framework for understanding dominant and recessive traits, human height does not follow a simple Mendelian pattern and is best described by a polygenic inheritance model.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question of what is the tallest possible height that a child could attain from a 5 feet 5 inches tall man and a 5 feet 3 inches tall woman involves concepts from genetics and human biology. While Mendelian genetics can provide some insight into the inheritance of traits, human height is a complex trait influenced by many genes (polygenic inheritance) and environmental factors. As a result, it is not as straightforward as Mendel's pea plant experiments. Mendelian principles suggest that traits are passed on through dominant and recessive alleles, and given the scenario where each parent can contribute three genes, it raises the possibility of various combinations of alleles.
In Mendelian genetics, a tall plant (T) with a dominant allele would mask the presence of a short or dwarf (t) allele when it comes to pea plants. When two heterozygous plants (Tt) are crossed, the expected phenotypic ratio for the offspring is 3 tall to 1 short according to the law of segregation and independent assortment. In humans, however, the principle doesn't apply as straightforwardly because height is affected by multiple genes and is not strictly determined by a single pair of alleles. Humans exhibit a range of heights with most people falling in the middle of this distribution. This distribution is typically illustrated as a bell-shaped curve, indicating polygenic inheritance.
In terms of maximum potential height for a child, it is difficult to predict with certainty, as it depends on the combined effect of many genes they inherit from both parents along with environmental factors. It's possible that a child inherits a combination of alleles that results in them being taller than both parents, potentially expressing a height at the higher end of the range, but predicting the exact height is not precise.